Leadership / 04.28.21

Fortune Favors the Bowl

Access Staff

VenuesNow (04/23/21) Brown, Eric Renner

Hollywood Bowl general manager Laura Connelly says the famed Southern California concert venue's reopening plans involve "being flexible, being fluid, being ready to turn on a dime." The venue has had to adapt quickly to California Governor Gavin Newsom's announcement that the state would fully reopen June 15, and adjusted its original plan to only hold four free concerts in May and June. "Now we're looking at what the possibilities are of having larger capacities, starting with concerts in July and a July 4th spectacular somewhat akin to what we would do in a normal season," Connelly notes. "We're super cautious and want to really emphasize that we're following all the guidelines." Connelly adds that the Bowl will strictly enforce basic safety protocols — six-foot social distancing, masks, sanitation and cleaning measures — but may enlarge capacity depending on what policies county health officials implement or revise. She confirms that the Bowl is planning to set up podded seating of two or four people, and ensure that the pods are socially distanced from each other. Connelly reports that artists' response to Newsom's reopening announcement has been enthusiastic, and the venue aims to support local artists in particular. Moreover, the Bowl is looking into modern technologies like touchless ticket scanning, touchless ticketing for parking and mobile food and wine ordering as critical supports for the return to live performance.

Read the full story from VenuesNow. 

Tags: News , Venues